Draft guidelines on digital payments soon, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Draft guidelines on digital payments soon, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

The Government is planning to roll out the draft guidelines for digital payments for public consultation soon, said Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday.

We will be rolling out digital payment draft rules for public consultation soon. This paper will broadly talk on consumer interests and addresses security concerns, Prasad said, adding that Aadhaar-enabled payments would be started this month as banks have already come on board.

Currently, these companies (digital payment) are governed by the Reserve Bank of India and new rules will be formed in consultation with the Central Bank.

"The idea is that the consumer interest is protected and we should grow this business in an orderly manner," Aruna Sundararajan, secretary, ministry of electronics and IT said. She added that three rounds of workshop has already happened by the wallet companies and other stakeholders and some "gaps" have been identified.

"If wallets have to grow as an instrument, issues such as what is the liability of the service provider, how the data is being protected, what the grievance redressal means have to be addressed," she said.

The demonetization step taken by the Government has increased the usage of digital payments in the country. Prasad also mentioned that the electronic payments saw an increase of 195 per cent in terms of volume and 54 per cent by value between October-January. Aadhaar-enabled payments, which would require just a person's biometric would be started later this month.

He said "We are also creating an eco-system to make India a global hub for electronics manufacturing. Over 250 investment proposals for electronics manufacturing have been received in the last 2 years, totaling an investment of Rs 1.26 lakh crores. A number of global leaders and mobile manufacturers have set up production facilities in India."

On mobile mobile manufacturing capacity, he said, "From 6 crore mobile handsets in 2014-15, India's mobile manufacturing capacity has increased to 11 crore mobile handsets in 2015-16. With 72 new mobile handset and component manufacturing units set up in last two years, India has emerged as a mobile manufacturing hub."

According to the latest data by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), in June, 2014, there was only Rs 11,000 crore of investment in electronics manufacturing segment, which has now grown to Rs 132,000 crore.

On concerns about the Donald J Trump-led US government, Prasad said that the ministry was closely coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs, and have communicated about the recent issues with the US administration.

We are coordinating with the companies together with Nasscom and take a coordinated approach on the visa issue, he further added.